to Luke 18 verse 9. Let's read verse 9. It says,
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves
that they were righteous and despised others. If words mean
anything at all, there's no reason to misread this parable. We all
know who's speaking, it's the Master. We know to whom he's
speaking, primarily speaking to all men, but primarily to
the self-righteous. And we know what he's saying
to them, that God condemns self-righteousness, God giveth grace to the humble,
and God rejecteth and resisteth the proud. Mr. Spurgeon said one time that Open
sin will condemn its thousands, but self-righteousness its tens
of thousands. A man in this congregation who's
an elder in this church made the statement many years ago
that made a tremendous impact on me and my ministry. He said,
if I stood in the judgment of God tomorrow, I had rather stand
there charged with murder. and to stand before God charged
with self-righteousness. It's a deadly sin. It's a deceitful
sin. It's a subtle sin. And it's hard
to detect until it has destroyed self-righteousness. I want to
be gentle tonight, but I want to be plain. I've prayed much
about this message. I've asked God to give me his
wisdom and his liberty and his spirit, because if there's any
sin that is damning your soul tonight here in this congregation,
this would be the sin. Because all of you respectable
people, you're all religious people, you're all moral people,
you're all people of principle, and if there's anything that
is taking you away from the refuge, Christ Jesus, away from the foundation,
Christ Jesus, it would be self-righteousness. That would be the sin with which
you would be charged. All right, he's faked this parable
unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous.
Number one, they justified themselves in their own minds. They justified
themselves in their own minds. This man says, I am not. He says in verse 11, he prayed
with himself. He prayed with himself. He wasn't
praying to God. This was not a conversation with
the king at all. This was not a prayer to God.
This was a prayer with himself. That's who he's talking to. He's
talking to himself. He's justifying himself with
himself. I thank God I am not like other
men. And most people who justify themselves,
first of all, justify themselves to themselves. They are satisfied. They are confident people that
things are all right between them and God. I'm saved and I
know it. I'm all right. I'm secure. I
have a righteousness. I have no fear of death. I have
no fear of the judgment. I have no fear of God's overflowing
scourge because I'm a Christian. I've justified myself to myself. Secondly, they justify themselves
before others. Turning back one page to Luke
16, self-righteous people first justify themselves to themselves
and with themselves. I am not like other men. He had
kept a list of the things that he did and he didn't do. I am
not an extortioner, I'm not an adulterer, I'm not unjust, I
fast, I tithe, I give all. All right, they justify themselves
before others in verse 15 of Luke 16. And our Lord said unto
them, you are they which justify yourselves, that is, you declare
yourself to be good and righteous and moral. before men. Not only to yourself, but you
justify yourself with men. But God knows your heart. For
that which is highly esteemed among men, that which men praise,
that which appeals to men, is an abomination unto God Almighty. Not only that, they justify themselves
to themselves. Secondly, they justify themselves
before others. And then thirdly, and this is
the tragic thing, They justify themselves before God. He said,
God, I thank you. I'm not like other men. God,
I thank you. Turn to 1 John chapter 2. Let
me show you the progress of sin, this progress of self-righteousness. In 1 John chapter 1, verse 8,
he says, if we say, In 1 John 1, verse 8, if we say
we have no sin, that is, we're righteous, we're just, we're
holy, we deceive ourselves. We have deceived ourselves, we've
justified ourselves unto ourselves, and we deceive ourselves and
the truth not in us. Now, verse 10, if we say we have
not sinned, we make God a liar. You see the progress of this
self-righteousness, and not only, it's not only deceives myself,
but I'm bringing God into this deceit, bringing God into this
counterfeit righteousness. I'm making God a liar, and his
word's not in me. Now, here's the third thing.
Go back to the text, Luke 18. He says, these people trusted
in themselves that they were righteous. That is, they justified
themselves to themselves. Secondly, they justified themselves
before others. Thirdly, they justified themselves
before God. I look at the last two words
in verse 9, and despise others. You never saw a self-righteous
man who was not hypercritical of everybody else. Now, religious
people are known for their critical natures, hypercritical. They sit in judgment, they criticize,
they find fault, this person does this, he can't be a Christian,
that person does this, he can't be a Christian, that person,
oh, he shouldn't do that, I wouldn't do that, if I was him, I would.
Most religious people are hypercritical and here's the reason, they're
self-righteous. They're self-righteous. Hate
is born of self-righteousness. Gossip is born of self-righteousness. That's the only garden out of
which it can be taken or grown, self-righteousness. A critical
spirit judging others always is indicative of self-righteousness,
and everybody here, including this preacher, can examine ourselves
by this rule without question. No man, no woman, who constantly
judges and condemns and criticizes other people could do so unless
they first of all have a high opinion of themselves. It just
can't be done. You won't find the person who's
humble and modest and broken before God sitting in judgment
on those above him. But you'll find the person in
the uppermost seats of religion and self-righteousness always
finding fault with those down here, finding fault with the
young people. Finding fault with the ministries, finding fault
with the deacons, finding fault with the congregation, finding
fault with other denominations, finding fault, always critical,
super, hyper critical, always without fail. It's the mark of
self-righteousness. Now there are two classes of
people represented in this parable. Let's go to verse 10. Now you
see verse 9, our Lord is speaking this parable to people who trust
in themselves that they're righteous. They justify themselves to themselves. I'm alright, I'm saved, I have
nothing to worry about. I'm one of God's children. They
justify themselves before others, always defending themselves.
They justify themselves before God. They're just confident that
they're alright. God, I thank you. I'm not like
other men. And then they have this spirit
of criticism. They have this spirit of judgment,
hypercritical. judging others, finding fault
with others, they despise other people. They despise, they don't
love them, they don't know what the spirit of love is, don't
know what the spirit of affection is, don't know what the spirit
of grace is, they actually despise other people. And the only reason
for this is self-righteousness. That's the only thing. It's born
of self-righteousness. There's no way in the world that
we can We can criticize one who's in the pit with us. We generally
are standing on the top looking down, finding fault with a fellow
that's in the pit. But if we're one and the same,
we love, we have compassion, we have understanding, we have
mercy, we have forgiveness, but self-righteousness won't let
a person forgive, won't let a person show mercy, won't let a person
be compassionate, just won't let him do it. It gives birth
to hatred and malice. All right? Two classes of people
are represented here. Our Lord says two men went to
the temple to pray. Now, two classes of people are
represented, not by symbol. Now, a lot of times in parables
you have symbols, you have pictures. This is no picture. This is no
symbol. Our Lord represents two classes
of people by example. In other words, He represents
the self-righteous person, and the self-righteous person is
always religious. That's where you find self-righteousness,
in religion. You don't find it in the honky-tonks,
you don't find it out on the streets, you don't find it in
the gambling dens, you don't find self-righteousness, you
find it in the church, in the pulpit, in religion. And our
Lord represented the self-righteous sinner with a self-righteous
sinner. A Pharisee. The self-righteous
sinner is represented By example, he brings in before us a man
who was genuinely self-righteous. And then the second class of
people that he calls attention to are the humble, repenting
sinners. And he represents them, by example,
with a humble, broken, repentant sinner. Turn to 1 Peter 5. What's our Lord doing here? Well,
our Lord is doing one thing here. He's crushing the pride of self-righteousness. He's exposing it. 1 Peter chapter
1, that's chapter 5, 1 Peter 5. He's exposing it, and he's
showing the mercy of God, the favor of God. The grace of God is upon the
guilty. It's upon the guilty. That's
exactly it. Now, God will save a harlot, but he won't save a
self-righteous sinner. God will save a drunk. God will
save a murderer. God will save an extortioner.
God will save an unjust man. God will save a blasphemer. God
will save all manner of sin shall be forgiven me, except self-righteousness. He won't save a self-righteous
man. You cannot find anywhere in this Bible. Well, just look
at the examples Christ gave us here. Here's the woman found
in adultery brought to the feet of Christ and cast down there,
and all around her are the self-righteous religious Pharisees. Our Lord
stooped down, identified himself with her, and showed mercy and
sent these men away. You look in the Pharisees' home
when they were having the dinner, and I preached on it two Sundays
ago, and our Lord was eating with this Pharisee. And the woman
came in and anointed his feet with oil and wept over his feet,
and dried them with her hair over his head. He said her sins
were forgiven, but he never said that to the Pharisee. He said
he came not to call the righteous, not to save the righteous, but
to save sinners. I'm going to show you that in
a minute. Let's look at 1 Peter 5, verse 5 and 6. Likewise, ye
younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be
subject one to another, be clothed with humility, for God resisteth
the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you
in due time. Let me show you another scripture
over in Matthew. Matthew is chapter 9. Now this
is so clear. This is so clear, and I want
to be as plain, as clear, and as firm as I can be tonight on
this subject, because I am totally persuaded That if I miss Christ,
or you miss Christ, it's going to be because I wrap myself in
the robe of self-righteousness, and not in the robe of Christ's
righteousness. It's going to be that I fail
to trust Him and Him alone, that I find my confidence and my hope
in something else besides Christ. And it would have to be self-righteousness.
Now, Matthew chapter 9, verse 11, well, verse 10. And it came to pass, as Jesus
sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners."
And these are open sinners. These are people that were called.
All men are sinners, but these people were looked upon as sinners. They weren't associated with
religion. They weren't associated with the tabernacle or the temple.
They weren't associated with the synagogue. They weren't associated
with the Bible. They were open sinners. Notorious
sinners, and our Lord sat down with them and with his disciples. And when the Pharisees, when
the religious people saw this, they were horrified. And they
would be today. If the Master came to the earth
today, and he's here, I know that, our Lord reveals himself
in all things. He's not far from any of us.
Christ is here. But if he bodily came to this
town, I'll tell you where you'd find him. You wouldn't find him
in the pretense and hypocrisy and presumption of modern religion.
You wouldn't find him walking around with a high and mighty
religious gang. You'd find him seeking sinners. You'd find him surrounded by
sinners. They'd be identified with him and he'd be identified
with them. And he tells you why. And the Pharisees were troubled
by this and he says, why does your master eat with publicans
and sinners? And when Jesus heard it, he said
to them, now he's saying this directly to these religious teachers
and preachers and moralists and legalists and ritualistic men. He says, they that are whole,
they that are well, do not need a doctor, but they that are sick.
Go and learn what that means. I will have mercy. Not sacrifice. I'm not interested in your ritualism. I'm not interested in your formalism. I'm not interested in you lifting
your hands in prayer. I'm not interested in your burnt
offerings and incense and all your processionals and your religious
enterprises. I'm not interested in it. I'm
interested in mercy. Mercy. Mercy. Who needs mercy? Guilty people. Who needs mercy? Sinners. Mercy, I'll have mercy,
not say, I am not come to call the righteous. Well, no man's
righteous, we know that. Well, what's the Savior talking
about? To whom is he referring, I'm not come to call the righteous? The self-righteous. That's what
he's talking about. I've not come to call, to redeem
men who think themselves well, who think themselves whole, who
think themselves good, who think themselves righteous. I've come
to call sinners. Now then, here's the next thing
I wish to present. Before you say, before you say,
and I want to be very delicate right here, before you say, I'm
not a Pharisee, I'm not a Pharisee. Now, Brother Man, you said this
man went up to the temple and he prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank you, I'm not like other men. And he's telling the
truth. Outwardly he wasn't. I'm not
an adulterer, I'm not an extortioner, I'm not unjust. I'm not even
like this public." And you see, that's that despising, that's
that critical. When the man starts telling what
he is and what he isn't, he naturally is going to turn and say, I'm
not like Bob Corker, or I'm not like Ed Harder, or I'm not like
Ed Ballard. That just follows naturally.
To justify yourself, you've got to find somebody on a lower rung.
You've got to do it. It's human nature. You've got
to justify yourself to yourself and before men. You've got to
have somebody lower than you and worse than you and a greater
sinner than you. It's just what he's doing. He
says, I'm this, that, and the other. I'm not like him. But
bless your heart he didn't say, I'm not like him. And he wasn't
like him either. But before you say, well, I'm
no Pharisee. I'm no Pharisee. Let me remind
you of something. It reminds you of several things about self-righteousness. The Pharisees were not the only
self-righteous people. This is found in other places.
It may even be found in an apostle. Let me show you this. Turn to
Mark 10. It may be even found in an apostle,
and it's even worse when it's found in a believer. When self-righteousness
is found in a person who knows better, this is when it hurts. When it's found in a person who
knows better, who's supposed to know better, let's put it
that way. That's when it's uglier than any other place. A person
who knows better. In Mark, I believe it is, I've
got Mark 10, 28, let's see, oh, that's it. Peter said, now listen
to this. Then Peter began to say unto
him, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee." Doesn't that
ring a bell? Lord, you talk about this, that,
and the other, but first of all he's up here before that, he's
talked about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom
of heaven. The disciples were astonished at his words, but
Jesus answered and said, Children, how hard it is for those who
trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for
a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to enter the kingdom of God. And they were astonished, out
of measure, saying, Well, who can be saved? And our Lord said,
With me, it's impossible. And then Peter, in that high,
self-righteous tone, says, Well, I've given up everything. I've
given up everything. I've given up all and followed
you. I've given up houses and land and family and friends and
all. This is where a preacher or a
missionary might stomp his toe right here. I've given up everything
and thought self-righteous. Another example of it, we won't
turn, but the mother of James and John came to the Lord and
she said, Lord, when you come into your kingdom, I'd like for
you to let my son, John, sit on one hand and my son, James,
sit on the other. And then the disciples began
to strive among themselves of who should be greatest in the
kingdom of God. And then one time the apostle Peter came down
to, I believe it was Antioch, and there were Jews and Gentiles
both in that church at Antioch, and he was sitting with the Gentiles,
and they were uncircumcised people, and they hadn't been Jews, they
were Gentiles who had been converted. He was sitting with them having
a big time, and from Jerusalem came down some Jewish leaders.
And when he saw them come in, he got up and excused himself
and went over and sat with the Jews. He didn't want to be seen
with those Jews. And Paul came down there. And
this was hard. Don't you know this was hard
for the apostle Paul? Peter was an apostle before he was. Peter
was with the Lord all the time on the earth through the trials
and persecution and all this before Paul. But Paul had to
bat Peter up against the wall, right in front of those people.
and withstand him to the face for what? Self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. He said,
don't you know that we'll be saved just like those Gentiles?
Not they'll be saved like we're saved. We're going to be saved
like they're saved. Now why is it that you want to
hang about their neck something that you can't even take around
your own neck? I'll tell you something else
about self-righteousness. It's subtle. It's deceitful. It's hard to detect. I'm going
to give you an example. And here's the next thing. Self-righteousness
does not properly define sin. It never does. Self-righteousness
never properly defines sin. It always confines sin to an
outward act. Now, I'm going to give you an
illustration. I hope you'll take this like it's given from the
heart, trying to be, I told you, I told you Sunday before last
that I've always tried to be as clear-cut and honest with
this congregation as I can. I intend to do that. If I'm whittled
down to preaching to 25 people, I'll preach to that many. But
if God wants to give me 500 or 1,000 people that want to hear
plain preaching, then I'll preach to that many, Paul. But I'm going
to tell it like it is. It's like when my friend, Brother
Griswold, committed suicide. I told you that two Sundays ago.
One preacher friend of mine announced that he passed away. Well, it's
hard for me to say. It's hard for you to take. But
incidentally, I did a little study on this thing of suicide. I'll bring it one night. I have several things about four
suicides in the Bible. One of them, we're sure, was
an unsaved man. The other three, we don't know.
The other three we don't know. Then there's a lot of scripture
on weariness of life and death. You know Job wanted to die? Elijah
wanted to die. I give you worlds of illustrations
of men of God who did not want to live, who wanted to die. We'll work on that one day. I'm
going to be honest with you. Barnard, you say honest people
don't wind up in hell. It's those phonies that wind
up in hell. That's who misses, that's self-righteousness, that's
who misses the kingdom of God, is a fellow that's pious and
presumptuous and outwardly untruthful before God. All right, down in
the Yucatan, there's a dear lady, I called her name, some of you
know her, so I'm not going to call her name, but she's real
pious, she's real religious. has been for a long time. I think
maybe she might know the gospel. I hope so. But she found out
that a certain man in the church smoked a pipe. And she went to
see him. And this was her illustration.
She drew a diagram. She drew a diagram of a man.
Here's a man. And outside this man she had
a frog, and a scorpion, and a spider, and a lizard, and a snake. And
she labeled the fog smoking. And she labeled the lizard drinking.
And she labeled the spider gambling. And she labeled the scorpion
something else, an outward thing, overeating maybe. Does that hurt
anybody? Let's say coffee, Carolyn, we've worked that over a little
bit. But she labeled all these things, these frogs and spiders
and scorpions and lizards and snakes by these names. Now she
said, with that sweetness of religion, when the Holy Spirit
comes in, all these things go out and we're cleaned up. Now I don't want to be obnoxious,
but I know another way that you can get rid of those things too.
Our Lord gave it. He said, it's not that which
goeth into the mouth that defiles a man, but what we put in our
mouth goes in our bellies and is flushed down the commode.
So I don't need the Holy Spirit to get rid of those things. See
what I'm saying, Paul? All I need is going to die and
I'll be holy. All I need is to flush it down
the commode some evening. See what I'm saying? That's plaintive,
that's so. So this dear man she was talking to had a lot of wisdom.
He said, dear lady, let's label these frogs and scorpions and
spiders and lizards and snakes by another name. Let's put under
the frog, hatred. That's a little harder to get
rid of. Let's put under the spider, envy. Let's put under the scorpion,
lust. Let's put under the snake over
here. Let's put these things under.
Now then, let's talk about getting rid of them. How do you get rid
of those things? I'll tell you the only way is
by the grace of God. And everybody here needs that
grace and that mercy. And I'll tell you this, you don't
even get rid of it then. There's only one way to get rid
of all those things, and that is to die and be taken to glory
and to be made into his likeness. Because though our Lord forgives
us and cleanses us and pardons us and puts away our transgressions,
not a one of us are free from the presence of sin, not a one
of us are free from the awareness of sin, not a one of us are free
from the conflict of sin, not a one of us are free totally
from any of those things. And these are the things that
defile. It's not what a man puts in his mouth, and I'll tell you
the whole religious world is wrapped up in a system of do's
and don'ts and external sins. Usually the self-righteous person
will confine sin to outward acts. You never hear him talking about
these things, such as envy and pride. and lust and ambition
and covetousness and jealousy and all these things that eat
us up. Hatred that just destroys us. It doesn't destroy the object
of our hatred, it destroys ourselves. That's who it destroys. And this
is the thing that troubles me. The thing that troubles me is
we have, I'm afraid, like the Pharisees of old. Our Lord said
to them, he said, you have cleaned up the outside of the cup. That
which people say, that which the world says, that by which
people judge you, and you have neglected the inside. You're
clean on the outside, but on the inside you're full of rottenness
and dead men's bones. You're like, our Lord said, you're
like a grave. The grass is cut short, and the flowers are blooming,
and the tombstone is shiny marble, and the name is there in the
deep impression, and people come by and say, beautiful. God says
on the inside, dead man's bones, stinking rotten. On the outside,
good. On the inside, good for nothing.
Let me say, not your abstinence from something that I've named
before, but let me see your abstinence from hatred, and malice, and
gossip, and jealousy, and pride, and all these things. Let's see
some of that. The scripture says, in my flesh
dwelleth no good thing. In the flesh no man can please
God. Turn to Matthew 23. Let me show
you a scripture over here. And my dear friends, this is
where Here God looks, God looks not on the outward countenance,
that's where your neighbor looks. And I'm not, please, please believe
me, I'm preaching and contending for righteousness and holiness
and godliness of life, abstaining from all appearance of evil,
conducting ourselves so we'll bring glory to our Lord, not
reproach. But I'm telling you, if we're going to stand before
Him, Not before the courts of earth or the judgments of men,
but before God. I've got to have a righteousness
better than that, Cecil. I've got to have a new nature,
a godly nature, a nature of grace that is better than this. I can
be sold just before my own eyes and just before the eyes of others
so exemplary and so complimentary and so all these things, and
yet God Almighty say, take him away. Take him away, his heart
reeks with malice, his heart reeks with covetousness, his
heart reeks with greed, his heart reeks with pride, his heart reeks
with these things that I hate worse than anything. And that's why I'm troubled.
Self-righteousness fosters pride, it fosters hatred, unforgiving
spirit, critical spirit, envy, jealousy, all these things. And
our Lord warned his disciples, he said, beware of the leaven
of the Pharisee. Beware, I warn you, he said.
And that leaven is hypocrisy. Hypocrisy. Matthew 23, 23. Let me show you something here
that I was looking at this evening. Matthew 23, 23. We're not picking
on the Pharisee. We're simply saying that he's
an example of self-righteousness. And no Pharisee will ever be
saved. Never will. Unless God makes him a publican
in his own mind. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites! You pay tithe of mint, anise,
cumin. These are all outward things.
You're so careful about the outward things. You are so precise. You've
got everything just right. You've got your doctrine and
you've got your conduct and you've got all these things just right
outwardly. But you've omitted the weightier,
the more important matters of the law, which are judgment,
mercy, and faith. These are inward traits, you
see. These are inward graces, judgment,
mercy, and faith. And you've been so busy about
these outward things, you've neglected those inward things
which are so important. Now, let me give you this in
closing. There are three divisions to this parable. Let's look at
it briefly for a moment. In Luke 18, I hope every one
of us Really, I believe that we need to declare war on Phariseeism. I believe we need to declare
war on the phony religion of our day. There's more of it than
anything else. It's in form, it's in ceremony,
it's in works, it's in duties, it's in all of these things outwardly,
and the hearts of men and women have not changed because in a
crisis they're the same that they always were. In a trial
they're the same that they always were. They react the same as
they always did. If you confine the religion to
the outward, they get along fine. But when there's a conflict inwardly,
when there's stress inwardly, when there's trial inwardly,
they react the same way they always did. So then they haven't
been changed inwardly. They've just given up a few habits
and a few sins and a few outward things and taken on some more,
and God's grace has never manifested itself inside. He said to two men, and anybody
can do this. Anybody can take up the pharisaical
life. Anybody can. All I've got to
do is write down some do's here and some don'ts there and get
all the disciples we need. But salvation is an inward birth.
Salvation is a new creation. Salvation is a fountain of living
water springing up within. Salvation is a life with Christ.
Salvation is a relationship with Christ. Salvation is a victory.
Salvation is a resurrection. Salvation is a union with a living
God. It's not memorizing the doctrine.
It's not Calvinism. It's not Augustinianism. It's
not any other kind of ism. It's Christ. Christ. The new birth. All right. Three
divisions. Let's divide. First of all, he
said two men. Two men. They went to the temple to pray.
Now, the temple was the acknowledged place for prayer. When the Jews
were near the temple, they went there. When they were away from
the temple, they prayed toward it. One of them was a Pharisee. I don't need to describe him.
You know what he was like. The other was a publican. I don't
need to describe him. But I watched these two men.
The Pharisee stood and prayed, very verbal. Listened to his
prayer. I thank you, God, I'm not like
other men, extortioner, unjust, and adulterer. I'm not even like
this publican. I fast, I tithe. He's not without
words. He's very verbal. He's very expressive. He's standing down there at the
front and praying. The publican stood afall. And
the Lord especially points out that he didn't even lift his
eyes, let alone his hands to heaven. But he smote upon his
breath. Now I wonder, I think about my
own prayers. examine them in the light of
this example our Lord gives us. Does our approach to God resemble
either one of these men? Does it carry the spirit of pride
and confidence, or does it carry the spirit of repentance and
humility? Now, these men were alike in many respects. They
were both sons of Adam. They were both under the law
and transgressors. They both needed mercy and pardon.
They were both helpless to attain that pardon. But they approached
it in two different ways. Now, let's look at the two prayers.
First of all, the Pharisee stood and prayed with himself. He didn't
pray to God. Our Lord said he prayed thus
with himself. One writer said that he separated
himself from the other people. I don't know if that's what it
means at all. But he stood and he talked to God about him. There's
no prayer in anything he said. I thank you, God, that I'm not
like other men. First of all, he didn't know
his heart. Secondly, he didn't know God's law. Thirdly, he didn't
know the scriptures, for the scripture says even our righteousnesses
are filthy rags in God's sight. But the publican stood afar off.
He wouldn't come down to the altar. He stood way back in the
back. He didn't feel that he belonged down there. He didn't
feel that he had a place down there. He stood afar off and
smote upon his breast. Spurgeon said he knew that the
fountain of his problem was right here, and he began to beat it.
Here's where my problem is. My problem's not there and there
and yonder and here, my problem's right here, my heart. And he
smote upon his breast, and this is what he said, oh God, be merciful. I'm not asking for justice, I'm
not asking for reward, I'm asking for mercy. I need mercy, mercy,
be merciful. to me, and they tell us that
instead of saying a sinner, he said the sinner. That's an article. I am the sinner. That's what
the Apostle Paul said. He said Christ came into the
world to save sinners of whom I'm the chief. Can any of us
identify with this? Just exactly as you look at this,
we preach sermon after sermon after sermon. It's like living
by the railroad track and the same train goes by every day
after a while. You don't even hear it unless it has a wreck.
Maybe I ought to have a rec up here or something, you know,
get attention. But let's look at this. Which is my prayer?
Lord, I thank you. I'm so thankful that I live a
clean life. I'm so thankful that I'm not
an adulterer. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I know old George is or Bill is or somebody else is,
but not me. I'm not like them. I go to church
on Sunday and I give my tithes and I teach Sunday school and
I preach and I travel around and do all these things. Well, our Lord said the two results. He said the Pharisee was not
saved. That's exactly what he said.
He was not justified. Because he says this man went
home, the publican. I'll tell you something else
about the publican's prayer. God, be propitiated toward me. You know what he said? Be propitiated. Be reconciled. And another one
said, propitiation means mercy seat. This publican knew something
about the mercy seat of old. He knew something about the tabernacle
behind that holy veil in the holy of holies. He knew something
about that ark that contained Moses' broken law, which is representative
of what I've done. I've broken God's law to offend
in one point to be guilty of the whole law. But that holy
law is broken. And over that Holy Lord, over
the Ark of the Covenant, was that golden mercy seat. And that
high priest once a year would take the blood of the Lamb and
come into the Holy of Holies as the incense, the smoke of
the incense, surrounded him and filled that place, which is typical
of the intercessory prayers of Christ. And he took that Lamb
once a year, the blood of the Lamb, and put it on that mercy
seat, and that blood flowed all over that golden mercy seat,
dripped over, and that broken law was inside, and God was propitiated,
God was reconciled, the justice of God satisfied, the righteousness
of God honored as the sacrifice of the innocent for the guilty.
of Christ for us. Christ is our atonement. His
blood covers the mercy seat. And this is what this Pharisee
is standing here talking about what he's done, what he's given,
how he's been faithful, and how he's served, and how he doesn't
do this and doesn't do that. And Christ said he went to hell.
He went to hell. What a horrible thought. What
a terrible thought that a man so good should miss Christ. A
man so moral. So outwardly principled, and
yet Christ said he was never forgiven for, never justified.
And here stands over here, the Pharisee was a better man than
that publican outwardly. Yes he was. The man who sat Simon
was a better person than that woman that bathed Christ's feet.
Wasn't he? Outwardly he was. He had a better
reputation. He had better conduct, but he
went to hell, and she went to heaven. That's right. This Pharisee was
a better man outwardly. If you'd have been electing a
mayor of this town, you would have elected him, not that other
guy. If you'd have been calling a preacher, you'd have called him, not that
one. That's right. If you'd have been electing a
deacon, who would have been the deacon? Now, come on. Who would have
been the deacon? The Pharisee would have been
the deacon, right? Not the public. But he went to heaven, and he
went to hell. And if we don't learn something, if we can't
learn something, now you go on, if you wish, in your claims and
piety and legalism and all this, I do, I don't, you do, you don't,
so forth, keep it up and perish. Or you can go before God, not
so much as lifting your hands and spite upon your breast and
weep over your sins and cry, oh God, will you through Christ
be propitiated for me? Listen, I'd be ever so much obliged. I'd be ever so grateful. How
can a man be just with God? Let's turn to Romans 3. And now
you say this type of sermon is not preached. I know it, and
you know it, and you know why. You know exactly why. You know that every little opus,
WMU leader in the church had quit. You know very well why. Why it's not preached? You know
why the preachers don't talk this way? Because this is the
religion of our day. It's not Christ. They use Christ
in name only. They talk about the cross in
name only. They talk about the blood in
name only. But 99% of today's religion is Phariseeism, is hypocrisy,
is a ritualistic self-righteousness. 99% of it. It's a veneer that's covering
a rotten soul and a rotten heart that has not been redeemed and
does not know Christ. Christ does not live within.
It's the regulations and legalism of religion. Frank, that's so,
and you know it, you've lived in it, and I have, grew up in
it. And I just don't intend for this congregation to be sucked
into it. We're going to be plain and honest. Because Christ our
Lord saves sinners. Look at Romans 3. Verse 19, Now
we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them
that are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and
the whole world become guilty before God. Therefore by the
deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin only. But now the righteousness
of God, without the law, without my obedience to the law, is manifested,
it's witnessed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
it's the righteousness of God, which is by one thing, by faith
in Christ Jesus, and by the faith of Christ Jesus. And it's unto
all, and upon all that believe. not that work, that believe,
not that strive, that believe. There is no difference. All have
sinned, Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, old and young, black
and white, learned and ignorant, and come short of the glory of
God and would justify freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a mercy
seat, a propitiation, a reconciler through faith in his blood, to
declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that have
passed, even Old Testament sins, through the patience and forbearance
of God, to declare, I say at this time, God's righteousness,
that he might be just and justifier of him who believes in the Lord
Jesus Christ. May God give us inward grace,
inward faith, inward union with Christ Jesus.